King Kong adventure.

[Alibear]

So, here's the deal. Scenario design and pad out jobby. Think King Kong plot right now.

 

I want to send my young heroes to a jungle island where they have to retrieve a Maguffin. The island is inhabited by a big dragonlike monster. No fire breathing, stumpy forelimbs, massive head full of teeth. What does that sound like?

 

1. Getting ship to take them to the cursed Isle is the first hurdle. Eventually the find willing capt. but have to pay through teeth to get ship. Capt on board needs money for dowry for his niece. She doesn't want to marry and falls for one of the PCs. Hopefully I'll be able to engineer a shipboard romance.

 

2. Anywhore the PCs sail to island and are met by friendly stone age natives. Give them food fresh water trade etc.

They see a massive set of doors at the edge of the village, to hold back dragon kong thing. Need name for beasty.-

 

3. Pc's trek into jungle to find maguffin, maybe with villagers as guides. Have a fight with local wildlife, maybe large flightless predator bird thingy.

 

4. Locate Maguffin and haul it back to ship.

 

5. Discover that ship has been attacked by locals and all crew kidnapped.

 

6. Locals are preparing to cook crew when PCs arrive. Most of warriors and shaman off to sacrafice girl to Kong (still need name) I'm basically imagining a dragon which is more like a T Rex and will use those stats.

 

7. Pcs go to big gate just as Monster takes girl carefully in jaws. If pcs attack and there is every chance they will knowing my lot the beast will make off into the jungle as warriors and shaman attack pcs.

 

8. PCs kill shaman and drive off warriors. Follow beastie into jungle.

 

9. Corner beastie and then kill it. Save girl.

 

 

 

What do you think?

[Nolgroth]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

Sounds like a fine adventure to me. Wonder what MacGuffin would be though. Rare island plant needed for a cure? The contents of the treasure vault of an ancient and long since abandoned temple?

[Alibear]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

The Maguffin is a huge brass and semi precious stone dish which brings rain to a desert called the Cup of Life. A magical artifact made by Zoltan the Articifer - the world's greatest ever producer of magical items.

 

It acts as a huge oasis, will bring life to the area, and will make the PCs heroes and bring them great renown. It's the culimation of our desert campaign.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

Question: why does the dragon-thing not eat the girl immediately? What does it want with her? The anthropomorphic Kong is close enough to human that the issue doesn't feel so pressing, but for a faux-T-Rex (and even if the PC characters don't recognize it as such, the players will) the question is sure to come up.

 

As for the Maguffin, depending on the parameters of your fantasy world it could be almost anything. Idols are a classic for South Sea island-like settings. As pure treasure they're usually gold or at least gem-encrusted. Is there any kind of magical problem the PCs face back home, that an enchanted idol being brought back could rectify?

 

EDIT: just read your post above about the Cup of Life. For a bit of a moral dilemma, this island could be in a normally barren region which the Cup of Life has made fertile enough to support this jungle environment; but removing the Cup will lead to drought that will destroy it.

[Alibear]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

The beastie is a Dragon even if a little slow upstairs. Instead of collecting treasure and other shiny things it collects beautiful living things to 'mother' them. Of course she doesn't know how to mother them so the all die eventually.

 

And that's the best I can up with. Cup of Life turning the island into a desert again thing is a great idea. Not sure the PCs will mind so much after they've been on the locals lunch menu but there you go.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

The beastie is a Dragon even if a little slow upstairs. Instead of collecting treasure and other shiny things it collects beautiful living things to 'mother' them. Of course she doesn't know how to mother them so they all die eventually.

 

Does your group prefer straight-up killing to role playing? Because a creature that collects other creatures to "mother" sounds like a great RP opportunity. Why does it have the desire to "mother?" Did something happen to its own children? Is it alone, perhaps the last of its kind? Do the natives know this is what happens to their "sacrifices?" Details like this could make the dragon much more sympathetic to the PCs, which could change the entire tone of the adventure. Of course you can still have fights with the wildlife for the PCs to slake their blood thirst. And speaking of sympathy,

 

And that's the best I can up with. Cup of Life turning the island into a desert again thing is a great idea. Not sure the PCs will mind so much after they've been on the locals lunch menu but there you go.

 

If the natives know what the PCs are after, and what the consequences would be, that would be more than enough justification for them to want to dine on the invaders.

 

May I suggest some alternatives to the scenario as I might run it? When the natives find out what the PCs are after, they pretend to offer to guide them to the Cup of Life. While the powerful heroes are off trapesing through the jungle on a wild Cup chase, the natives capture the crew to hold hostage, to force the heroes to leave the island without the Cup. They may still go ahead with the sacrifice, but in any case if and when the returning heroes defeat them, the natives reveal the Dragon is the guardian of the Cup; so they have even more reason to go after it.

 

When they catch up to the Dragon they may choose to fight or negotiate with it -- the latter would more easily reveal its sympathetic side. There may be something the PCs can do to help the Dragon; perhaps it's under a curse of infertility they could lift, or its eggs are someplace it can't reach (maybe hoarded by some other monster). In repayment for this favor, the Dragon tells them that while the Cup made this island fertile, it's no longer needed to sustain the ecology as the natives think. The Dragon may have to return with them to convince the natives of that, though.

 

Anyway, that's how I would spin this. YMM most justifiably V.

[AnotherSkip]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

Perhaps Cannibalism is the 'only' ritual way to cleanse invaders who are defiling their area. the natives actually are repulsed by cannibalism but due to a mistranslation of information contained on the cup of life the natives have little choice.

 

the guides to recover the cup are of course merely a distraction in order to split the party.

 

Name: Dra-Ko

[Susano]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

Call the dragon -- Mother Of Serpents

 

Flightless Bird and other creatures for the island: http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationscreatures/movies/kong/wokong.html

[AlHazred]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

Call the dragon Grandfather-of-Reptiles! Going with the "mothering" angle, I'm picturing it trying to get the knight to "hatch" out of his "shell"...

[Susano]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

Yeah, that's one's a winner. Dude who made that does some awesome stuff.

[AlHazred]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

Nah, I was just lazy and posted something from the first page of the sub-forum links.

[Alibear]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

Call the dragon -- Mother Of Serpents

 

Flightless Bird and other creatures for the island: http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationscreatures/movies/kong/wokong.html

 

 

Sure can use som stuff there espeially the terror bird. Will have a look at rest tomorow when at work and have more time. Rep if I can.

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

You may be interested in the Isle of Dread. It is Greyhawk/DnD's take on King Kong.

 

The beastie is a Dragon even if a little slow upstairs. Instead of collecting treasure and other shiny things it collects beautiful living things to 'mother' them. Of course she doesn't know how to mother them so the all die eventually.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JlVqfC8-UI

[Susano]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

Thrilling Places has a Skull Island analog as well.

[Alibear]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

I can vaguely remember that scenario from when I was a kid playing DnD and had already ripped off the name for this island.

 

BTW. the Isle of Dread was the 2nd ever gaming product I bought.

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: King Kong adventure.

 

Oh. Well, cool. I've been wanting to pick it up (I will be running Savage Tide in the future, and would like more information on the Isle. From my glimpses of the issues of Dungeon and Dragon magazines, the information provided is limited.